GAA and Computer Games

Magi11

Does anyone know how many computer and or online games there are for GAA? I know there was that dreadful PS2 football sim for about 7 years ago that stung a lot of us and I think the sequel was a slightly less terrible version that still concentrated on the playing side. Has there been any other attempts for football or hurling?

Diabhal Beag

Those are the only ones as I know. The lack of names really hurt the games.

aidz

i think i recall reading somewhere that there was a kinda football manager based pc game that involved being a hurling manager.
that was about 18-24 months ago...

Professey Chin

There was the 2 football ones and the hurling one.All terrible (the hurling slightly less so). NOthing besides that though in terms of actual gameplay. Too complex really. The games would need a massive budget and a very talented studio like one of EAs to be any good

Clareman

That was Bainisteoir, I won the all Ireland with Clare and got sacked the next game, fickle bunch the Clare county board

Most video games produced make a loss, I believe a lot of the EA titles would be loss making also (such as NHL) and they are targeted at a much larger audience than GAA games would be. But once there's more competition in the console market and PC games are designed for normal PCs rather than monster gaming rigs (like mine ) there's bound to be a couple of games come out of the wood work. The thing about GAA games is because they are such complex games it would be very difficult to do right (like the Ulster Bank flash game http://gaa.ulsterbank.com/game

keane2097

Clareman wrote: »

Most video games produced make a loss, I believe a lot of the EA titles would be loss making also (such as NHL)

lol what?

Clareman

Ooops, I should have known better than just to shove in a statement like that

I should have said that video games don't have a whole lot of profit for the different people involved, from the developers, to the publishers and the rights holders, by the time all the people have been paid the developers mightn't see much return on investment and end up incurring a loss on making the game.

Then you get the juggernaught games of course that make millions (such as CoD, Force Unleashed, Halo) for all involved.

keane2097

Clareman wrote: »

Ooops, I should have known better than just to shove in a statement like that

I should have said that video games don't have a whole lot of profit for the different people involved, from the developers, to the publishers and the rights holders, by the time all the people have been paid the developers mightn't see much return on investment and end up incurring a loss on making the game.

Then you get the juggernaught games of course that make millions (such as CoD, Force Unleashed, Halo) for all involved.

That seems crazy to me, where did you come across that info?

Clareman

It's been quite a time since I worked in development or anything, but it used to be a known fact that there wasn't much money to be made in making video games to select audiences, since the next gen consoles however this has changed, I believe that if CoD was a movie that it would have been the biggest movie of the year. This doesn't take into account MMORPG games which get revenue through subscriptions.

I'm sure that a lot of video games are profitable, but I doubt a game that a game that's designed for a niche market such as GAA fans would have much chance of returning a huge profit, the market just wouldn't be bit enough I'd imagine.

keane2097

Clareman wrote: »

It's been quite a time since I worked in development or anything, but it used to be a known fact that there wasn't much money to be made in making video games to select audiences, since the next gen consoles however this has changed, I believe that if CoD was a movie that it would have been the biggest movie of the year. This doesn't take into account MMORPG games which get revenue through subscriptions.

I'm sure that a lot of video games are profitable, but I doubt a game that a game that's designed for a niche market such as GAA fans would have much chance of returning a huge profit, the market just wouldn't be bit enough I'd imagine.

Oh sorry I think I'm with you now. Mainstream games can be/should be profitable but niche games are more difficult to make money on - that's what you're saying?

I thought you just meant video games in general and I was like "Why the fcuk is anyone making them"!

gugleguy

ah, this thread stirs a long musty memory at the back of my 38 year old brain.
Yes, there WAS indiginous developement of at least a GAA football game.
Quite serious in fact. 2 programmers, Irish Guys, were involved at least.
They contacted a big Video game company who expressed interest in their development.
So the programmers stuck at it for a bit more..
And returned to the big Video game company.
The Video game company said, "well, yeah, maybe, we need more time to consider, sales volume, demand, game market segment simulation/arcade..." and all the rest
So the programmers stuck at it for a more more....
And Once again they returned to the game company to review the work
And again the big video company said "well, yeah, maybe, we need more time to consider, sales volume, demand, game market segment simulation/arcade..." and all the rest
but to persevere.
So the programmers persevered.
Once More the programmers returnd to the big video game company.
This time the guys asked the big video company to say YES or NO.
Actually the big video company said NO
So that was that.
The same kind of thing happens in the music industry.

Epilogue... some years later.. I saw a GAA game on sale in GAME in Dawson street . I doubt but am not completely sure if there is still a GAA game on sale though.

Clareman

keane2097 wrote: »

Oh sorry I think I'm with you now. Mainstream games can be/should be profitable but niche games are more difficult to make money on - that's what you're saying?

I thought you just meant video games in general and I was like "Why the fcuk is anyone making them"!

It's too early on a Friday for me, sorry I wasn't clearer. I'm glad they make games, what else would I do with my time if they didn't? I've to decide now whether to play Force Unleashed 2 on the PC or Black Ops on the Xbox, life is hard

keane2097

Clareman wrote: »

It's too early on a Friday for me, sorry I wasn't clearer. I'm glad they make games, what else would I do with my time if they didn't? I've to decide now whether to play Force Unleashed 2 on the PC or Black Ops on the Xbox, life is hard

Had a go of Black Ops last night for the first time.

Fun game, but your character seems almost invincible - might have just been the setting I was playing on...

Clareman

It's the first game I've ever played that I didn't bother with the story mode, I jumped straight into online

blackbelt

I would love to see a proper GAA game with the proper setup - players,graphics,achievements and game play.The last games for ps2 were good in gameplay if even a bit slow or robotic while the graphics of the stadiums were top notch.I still play GG2 on ps2 along with Pro Evo 6.

If EA Games were to cater for a niche market,I'd be more concerned about the gameplay.I'm playing FIFA 11 on Xbox doing a pro season and the shoot function sucks so bad that I want to throw my control pad across the room.Would love for Konami to do it but there may be a slight tradeoff in presentation.

AHogan92

Clareman wrote: »

It's too early on a Friday for me, sorry I wasn't clearer. I'm glad they make games, what else would I do with my time if they didn't? I've to decide now whether to play Force Unleashed 2 on the PC or Black Ops on the Xbox, life is hard

Jst wonderin for christmas...Halo or Black ops??? I've never played halo but i heard its good! I play mw2 a lot bu my friends who play it aswel say black ops is crap

Clareman

I think you'd be better off asking that in the Xbox forum, but IMVHO it's CoD all day every day

Magi11

So, as virtually every house in the land has a laptop, would there be a market for a PC game for GAA? I would think a good management game would be doable because GAA (like Rugby) is too complex a game to be even adequately replicated in gameplay.

Clareman

It'd be very difficult to have a management simulator without a transfer system, 1 of the best things about Championship Manager is the scouting system as well as wheeling and dealing.

There are a lot of sports out there that don't have a game (hockey comes to mind), even Rugby only comes out every couple of years (bring back Jonah Lomu), but I for 1 would definitely buy any other releases that were to come out.

Orizio

I would love to see a GAA version of Blackout Rugby. In reality, there is probably room for an online simulator if you get a couple of programmers that are committed enough. In lieu of a transfer system, you could probably focus more on underage stuff and maybe even some poaching.

IvanW

Clareman wrote: »

It'd be very difficult to have a management simulator without a transfer system.

Obviously you dont follow many of the bigger clubs in Dublin they been operating a transfer system for years ........;)

Gingy

Bainisteoir Hurling was impossible. You had to give each player an individual training plan and motivational talk for him to play well. I lost to New York as Kilkenny in a pre-season friendly and got the P45.

It was a good effort though. I remember some good story lines such as John Mullane getting offered a contract with the Brisbane Lions or PJ Ryan getting soccer trials with Kilmarnock and you had to persuade them to stay.

Henno30

Gingy wrote: »

Bainisteoir Hurling was impossible. You had to give each player an individual training plan and motivational talk for him to play well. I lost to New York as Kilkenny in a pre-season friendly and got the P45.

It was a good effort though. I remember some good story lines such as John Mullane getting offered a contract with the Brisbane Lions or PJ Ryan getting soccer trials with Kilmarnock and you had to persuade them to stay.

Bainisteoir Hurling was actually quite good in a lot of ways. It was genuinely a interesting game to play and it had a decent level of tactical depth. Playing just a one off game in it really was good fun.

The problem though, like you've alluded to, was the wild fluctuations in player stats and the dramatic swings in team form.

If you didn't give a player an individual training routine, at least twice a month, his stats would collapse. Not just by a point or two a season, like in Football Manager, but by something in the region of 50%, in the space of a month!

It was ridiculous. Setting training routines quickly became tedious and boring and it really sucked the joy out of the game. When you did put the effort into it over a full season, which I did a few times before getting sick of the game, your reward was an annihilation of every opposition team. So you would end up beating Kilkenny by 30 points in the All Ireland Final. A bit of craic the first time, deflating the second time, and by the third time you've had enough.

All of which is a shame because in general the game was original and interesting and enjoyable to play. It was brilliant to have a game where you could create your own county squad and draft new players into the team from the club ranks. The training schedules and strategies were fine as well, until you realised you had to spend half an hour adjusting sliders before every week of your schedule. Some of the story lines, and the interaction with the media gave the game an different twist and while it wasn't on Football Managers level it was very playable.

But as I said it was all ruined by the completely unrealistic changes in player stats over the course of a season. Where in football manager a players's finishing stat might slip from 17 to 15 over the course of a season with the wrong training regime in place, in this game it would fall from 85 to 30 in two months, or in FM terms, a 17 to 6 decline. It just killed the game.

The thing is, because it was a problem of the underlying game mechanics, as opposed to a major flaw in the game's engine or overall design, it is the kind of thing you think could be fixed pretty easily with a patch. Or, the kind of thing someone with modding experience in managerial or strategy games could put right with relatively little effort. The patch is probably a lost cause, but a good modder could definitely bring this game back to life.

Henno30

Clareman wrote: »

It'd be very difficult to have a management simulator without a transfer system, 1 of the best things about Championship Manager is the scouting system as well as wheeling and dealing.

I'd actually disagree with you on that point. The transfer dealings themselves in Football Manager can often be a bit of an irritation.

The attraction lies in squad building which is a brilliant part of management games. Transfer dealings just happen to be the underlying mechanism in the Football Manager game.

On this front it would be relatively uncomplicated to substitute this aspect of the managerial game with a greater emphasis on other factors, namely youth development and club player mining.

The coaches element of the FM transfer system could be retained, and could be made even more important due to the emphasis on core squad building activities such as successful underage system and developing club players.

Managerial games live and die by the overall design concepts and the realism of the game mechanics. That Bainisteoir game wasn't far off with the former but missed the mark completely with the second.

If you think about some of the really basic but legendary football management sims of the eighties it's a real disappointment that we don't have GAA versions.

What's needed to make them is pretty basic in gaming terms, but it seems that after the brief celtic tiger splurge there's no will to make it happen here anymore. A shame.

Orizio

Once again, there are plenty examples of online (and free) management sims that are almost as complete as an actual video game. What is needed is a programmer, a GAA expert and lot of will and effort.

Magi11

Does anyone think that it would be possible to recreate the success of "Hattrick" for GAA

Gingy

Gingy wrote: »

Bainisteoir Hurling was impossible. You had to give each player an individual training plan and motivational talk for him to play well. I lost to New York as Kilkenny in a pre-season friendly and got the P45.

It was a good effort though. I remember some good story lines such as John Mullane getting offered a contract with the Brisbane Lions or PJ Ryan getting soccer trials with Kilmarnock and you had to persuade them to stay.

lol

Lucky for you that business course in IT Carlow was more tempting then Kilmarnock to keep PJ at home

Lord Trollington

There is an AFL PS3 game coming out in the near future, it wouldnt be so hard for the developers to make a few tweaks and developing it into a GAA game also, they noth have similar styles of play.

Although i'd imagine its only available in Aus, they are probably not overly interested in satisfying the Irish Market.

Wouldn't mind a good rugby game coming along either.

corcaighabu92

When was the last Rugby game out. I am pleading with someone to make a GAA game. In all fairness, with the technology these days dont tell me it is impossible to make a realistic GAA game. I think we need to start a petition.

Professey Chin

corcaighabu92 wrote: »

When was the last Rugby game out. I am pleading with someone to make a GAA game. In all fairness, with the technology these days dont tell me it is impossible to make a realistic GAA game. I think we need to start a petition.

Impossible no.
Very very expensive for a very niche market. yes

scuzz

Hi Folks,
Apologies for hijacking this thread, just checking if any of ye came across a Flash based Hurling game that featured a player hitting a 'Sliotar' and trying to score goals and points. It had a power meter and directional arrow to aim the shots. It was online years back and was pretty addictive. Have searched high and low and cannot find any link. If anybody knows whether it's still available and to its whereabouts, it would be appreciated. Thanks